Local police say Tasers defusing threat of violence

The prevalence of Tasers in movies, TV and the news has served to educate the public on the power of the shock. Just displaying a Taser often prompts criminals stand down.

Staff Reporter

When a 32-year-old man accused of beating up a teenager, raised his fists to a Middleboro police officer and declared they were going to fight, the officer had some options.In the past, officer Kevin A. Nardi would have had access to a baton, a pepper spray canister or a firearm, but during this July incident, he reached for his yellow Taser.

The man gave up, deciding his fists were no match for a Taser, which can shoot electrified prongs 15 to 35 feet and send 600 volts through a person’s body.

Middleboro police started carrying Tasers in 2011. They are now one of 182 police departments in Massachusetts that have equipped officers with the less-than-lethal weapon.

The prevalence of Tasers in movies, TV and the news has served to educate the public on the power of the shock. Just displaying a Taser often prompts criminals stand down.

In 2012-2013, Stoughton officers pulled out their Tasers 32 times. The weapon was deployed in 12 of those incidents.

“What we see with those numbers is exactly what we want to see,” said Stoughton Deputy Police Chief Robert Devine, pointing out that the presence of a Taser is often enough of a deterrent.

When Tasers are deployed they are used in cases that could warrant lethal force.

“You’re talking about a situation that is violent or potentially deadly,” said Bridgewater Police Chief Christopher Delmonte.

Tasers have been deployed in several, extremely violent local incidents.

Brockton police used Tasers on two different men involved in a large fight downtown in Nov. 2013. Officers arrived at the early morning melee in the area of Crescent and Main streets to find several fights, including a man being brutally kicked in the head. Sgt. James Baroud used a Taser on one of the suspects to stop the attack.

When officers were subduing that man, another combatant entered the fray, hitting officers. He was eventually stopped with a Taser.

“It was crazy. It was just an extremely chaotic scene,” Baroud told The Enterprise after the incident.

In wild incidents like the one in Brockton and the Stoughton baby shower that erupted into a brouhaha in early 2013, officers balance making arrests and not seriously injuring suspects.

“We should cause the least amount of harm to someone we’re trying to bring into custody,” said Stoughton Police Chief Paul Shastany, whose officers used a Taser to break up the large fight at Club Luis de Camoes.

The distance at which a Taser can be deployed is also keeping officers safer.

Easton currently does not have Tasers, but Police Chief Allen Krajcik hopes to change that at Town Meeting this fall. Krajcik said he would seek about $40,000 to equip his entire department.

Krajcik said that department finances have played a role why Easton doesn’t have Tasers. He’s also seen an increase in violent incidents that could have been quelled with a Taser.

“It’s time that we made a commitment to properly equip our officers,” said Krajcik.

The state monitors all departments that use Tasers, collecting reports on use and requiring training for officers.

Officers are not required by the state to be stunned as part of training, but many opt in. Shastany, who was shot with a Taser on video as a way to demonstrate the effects to Town Meeting, said the experience also helps officers understand the power of the tool.

“This is not a toy,” Shastany said. “This is something we have to be judicious in its use.”

While no non-lethal weapon is perfect, a 2009 study shows that 99.75 percent of people hit with a Taser do not suffer significant injury.

That fact may be why officers are willing to have the weapon used on them during training.